When performing spine surgery for the purpose of fusing segments together, a common practice known in the art is to obtain trabecular bone pieces from the iliac crest and position these pieces along the transverse processes of the spine posteriorly. Frequently, the surgeon will squeeze the trabecular pieces to form an approximately cylindrical mass, herein after called “mass” or “masses”. However, the mass frequently falls apart when being placed in the desired location.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is an apparatus and method that will allow surgeons to produce masses, in the operating room, that are capable of maintaining their physical integrity during placement and during the acute post operative period.
However, in view of the prior art considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in this field that the identified improvements should be made nor would it have been obvious as to how to make the improvements if the need for such improvements had been perceived.